'Community' Recap: Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design

S2:E9
I’m not sure how many times I can say “Guys, Communityis so awesome,” but guys,
Community
is so awesome. I’m beginning to think I may sound a bit like a proud parent or maybe just a proud aunt, constantly touting the show’s successes, no matter how small, and finding the good in (almost) everything. It’s true, I love this show unconditionally, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that the creators have got the art of pop-culture parody down to a science. The “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” episode is a departure from the outlandish, grand zombie- space-simulator-Betty Whitefueled romps and a return to the formula that the show perfected back in season one. The show also keeps the childish wonder and the ensuing hilarity that
Donald Glover’s
Troy brings to it with a subplot in which he and Abed create a blanket-fort city that takes over an entire dorm. Say what you will about relying on formula, but Community’s formula is 100 percent its own and when it comes to this stuff, nobody does it better.

The episode opens on the study room where Annie’s got another diorama and Shirley’s got a quip about how her kids don’t do nearly as many dioramas as they do at Greendale. Someone needed to say it, we were all thinking it; after all this is the third cold open featuring a diorama. Are they in preschool? Britta turns down an invite from Abed and Troy because she’s too mature for their blanket-fort slumber party. What is she on? That sounds awesome. The Dean interrupts the group …again…this is starting to become a regular occurrence and I’m kind of starting to get tired of it.
The Officecan’t have Dwight with nun chucks in every cold open, and
Community
should stop overusing the Dean’s obnoxiousness as well (the good thing is that his involvement does eventually pay off...this time). It turns out that Jeff completely made up his own Independent Study course and instructor -- Professor Professorson. Jeff wants to keep his ruse going and says he’ll introduce the Dean to this Professorson guy.

Jeff leads Annie and the Dean to a supply closet and suddenly panics. Clearly, because his course is about conspiracy theories, Professor Professorson set the whole thing up to teach him a lesson. Just when Annie rolls her eyes (and reads my mind) and tells Jeff she’s not that stupid, a man walks around the corner and introduces himself as Professor Professorson. Despite never encountering the Dean, Professorson has his papers in order, brandishing his faculty I.D. as his cell phone rings with “DUH-DUH-DUH!” Get it? Because he’s so mysterious and creepy and doesn’t seem to exist? Just when Annie apologizes for doubting him, Jeff admits that he made up Professor Professorson and he has no idea who that man was. Annie is naturally concerned, but Jeff is oddly stoked (with a seriously creepy smile on his face). Annie is outraged that Jeff wants to blow off this odd coincidence and takes a moment to remind us all why we love her character as she “blows off” walking, then standing, then “speaking language” and writhes on the floor speaking in baby tongues. That girl is absolutely crazy and I love it.

Back in Abed’s dorm, the blanket-fort is complete but Troy thinks they might be too big for it. Solution? More pillows, higher ceilings: a pillow fort for MEN. Can I please be friends with these guys in real life? One of Abed’s nerdy friends interrupts their fort fest, and they pop their heads out long enough to hear his plea to join in the fun. But this is no child’s play, Abed and Troy very seriously insist that the new guy combine his blanket forces with theirs in order to participate.
That’s
how you make a man-fort.

Jeff runs into Annie in the library and she’s working her hardest to “Nancy Screw” Jeff out of his free class. (I have to admit I got way too much joy out of that
Nancy Drew
reference.) She’s done some sleuthing and she found that the mysterious Professor is actually Professor Wooley and does work at night school. But, he already had the Professorson I.D. so there is still a conspiracy at hand – and Jeff realizes he may actually have to do work for his fake class after all. Just then, Annie can’t start her diorama car, which is always the first sign of trouble in a conspiracy theory movie. Then, Jeff gets a call from an altered voice who warns him to keep his little friend away from night school. Jeff tackles Annie just as the toy car explodes…with tiny, little sparks. Tackle: unnecessary. He just wanted to get closer to Annie’s boobs, didn’t he?

Back in the dorm, Abed and Troy’s blanket fort has acquired more troops and fuzzy blankets and now extends through the halls. Jeff and Annie infiltrate night school to solve the mystery but when they get a hold of the class list, each listing is fake – classes like “Class 101” and “Learning!” They spot Professorson (or Wooley) and ask to audit his math class, but he darts down the hall, eventually finding his way to Abed and Troy’s fort which has become its own underground city with rules (no farting – a classic fort rule) and museums and districts and permits? Oh my. Troy and Abed lead Jeff and Annie through the blanket city to the Turkish district where they see Britta (not too big for forts now, eh?) before catching Wooley.

He takes them to a room full of papers and fax machines and tells them that night school isn’t real, he made it up. He started out like Jeff with just one fake class, and then he got so wrapped up in the lie he had to create other professors and students and classes until he had an entire school. Jeff feels something familiar, like someone is trying to teach him something – but he’s not just being cheesy, he’s onto something. Wooley keeps talking about unicorns and time-desks, and Jeff recognizes the Dean’s words. Plus, on the way over, Jeff passed the drama department, where he saw Wooley’s real name and title as head of the department. This sets Jeff off, he’s ready to show the Dean that Jeff Winger never learns.

Annie and Jeff hatch a plan using fake guns. They invite the Dean to the library where they’re holding “Professor Wooley” and turn him in to the Dean for fraud. Annie shoots Wooley with the fake gun saying he broke the rules, and the Dean pulls out a gun and shoots Annie. Jeff can’t believe the Dean shot Annie with a real gun, so he pulls out a gun and shoots the dean. Are you still with me? Annie immediately springs up, demanding an explanation. She says that she and the Dean worked together the whole time to teach Jeff a lesson – another layer of conspiracy, but wait there’s more. The Dean gets up – Jeff’s gun was also fake, just way more high-tech – and the plot thickens. It turns out Jeff realized the Dean was too dumb to plot against him so he called the Dean and asked for help to teach Annie a lesson about trust and friendship. But whoa, now Annie’s got a gun – but there were only three prop guns. Annie goes all crazy jilted lover on Jeff and shoots him three times, causing the Dean to switch teams again. With that, Jeff jumps up and they reveal the real plan (at least I hope) which was to show the Dean that he can’t keep switching allegiances or he’s not participating in a plot, he’s just doing “random crap.” There are some terrible conspiracy movies out there that could learn from this. But wait, there’s more. Really? Yes, really. A cop walks in and shoots the drama professor in the chest with a shotgun. But once again it’s just another plot to teach a lesson – this time about misusing prop guns. Okay, my head hurts now. Can we go back to Troy and Abed’s tent village?

That’s exactly what they do. Annie and Jeff continue their sexual tension and Abed receives news from the outside world. His fort hit the front page of the Greendale newspaper. With the news that they’ve gone mainstream, they have no other choice but to follow protocol – which apparently means destroying the fort village. Are you still going to try to say that forts are just for kids? (Okay they are, but that was awesome.)

Troy and Abed sign off by playing a word game making fun of pretty much every action movie ever. Of course this makes Troy think they should write a screenplay together. Ha, that I’d like to see.

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Yo Kelsea, gotta disagree with you about the Dean's role. His primary position in the show is one of exposition. He's there to set things up for the group and thus has to interrupt the group at times. And he's been developed as such a weird and funny character that I think he is a great part of the show. His expository position is just as important as Abed's meta references, Annie and Shirley's heart, and Pierce's unabashed racism.